The Legislative Reform Alliance (
The ruling and opposition caucuses in the Legislative Yuan are slated to meet next week for another round of negotiations on a plan for reducing the number of legislative seats by 2008.
The three-year-old alliance, which is composed of members of a number of social groups, asked the caucuses to reconsider their agreement to reserve 34 seats for legislators at large, saying that the number is too small to allow for adequate representation of minority voices and parties. The alliance proposed the number of legislators at large be equal to the number of regional legislators -- 73.
Adding the six seats reserved for Aboriginal representatives yields 152 seats.
"One hundred thirteen legislators are not enough to effectively represent the people. We want more room in national policy for minority voices," said Ku Chung-hwa (
Alliance representatives said that it is difficult for independent or minority-party candidates to win regional races because of the vast disparity in the resources available to them and major-party candidates. It is even more difficult for such candidates to be nominated through party channels due to intra-party politics, the alliance said.
The alliance also recommended that half the seats for legislators at large be reserved for women.
Huang Chang-ling (黃長玲), director of the Awakening Foundation and an associate professor of political science at National Taiwan University, said that the point of reserving seats for women is not affirmative action for females, but gender equality.
"If increased female representation causes changes in the way our country is run, it will not be because of increased attention to women's rights. Instead, it will mean that there are societal problems that still need to be addressed," Huang said.
The legislative caucuses have agreed -- for the time being -- that reserving for women 30 percent of the seats for legislators at large is excessive.
The alliance also expressed the view that the voting age should be lowered to 18. The voting age now is 21.
"Only six other countries in the world have such a high voting age. We have 800,000 people between the ages of 18 and 21 in this country whose voices are being ignored. Eighteen-year-olds in this country have taxes deducted from their salaries, but they can't vote. How does that make sense?" said Chi Hui-jung (
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